how to get that Spanish guitar sound?

[mysterybat35]

Hi,

 

I was wondering how to achieve that Spanish guitar sound that you hear in Latin music. I always see them playing acoustic guitars but do they use nylon strings or something b/c it doesn't sound like they are plucking nickel strings or steel strings.

 

MB35

[walk_through_wa]

you might try a spanish guitar

[Sex Machine]

nails on nylon strings

 

plug really hard too

[Prages]

Yes, they use nylon strings.

 

Spanish guitars normally have really wide, flat fretboards too. They don't feel at all like a regular acoustic guitar.

[mixedxboy]

yep nylon strings.

 

as far as i know you can't just string up your regular acoustic with any old nylon strings without snapping them, but there are probably some nylons designed to work on a standard acoustic

 

in general, they are spanish or classical guitars like these

 

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/navigation?N=100001+306255&Ntk=All&Ntt=spanish+guitar&Nty=1&page=1

 

shop around your local music stores. they aren't super popular these days so they can sometimes be hard to find, but since they're not flying off the shelves you can probably find a real sweet deal if you look hard enough.

 

i've been to music store closing sales where they were blowing them out for like $20 because nobody wanted them. sure they weren't top quality--but if you just wanted to pluck around to see if you like classical guitar, how could you go wrong?

[Alchemist]

you can approximate the general feeling on any guitar (of course not dead on).... just use very tight fret hand vibrato

[DenverDave]

Yep - nylon string guitars only need apply for that tone. And for some of the real 'Spanish' stuff you are hearing a flaminco guitar as opposed to the usual classical guitar. There are differences in the two, espeically considering how hard a good flamenco player is on their guitar. They really bang the heck out of them - but they can squeeze so much soul and passion into each note....

[Blackmetal]

Buy, beg, borrow, or steal a nylon string guitar

[dkitts2002]

Besides getting a nylon string guitar, I found that one of the things that Roland GR-33s do really well is the sound you are looking for. I know that it is a synth...and I own several keyboard synths and none of them sound like ANY guitar....but the GR-33 really does a great job of giving the nylon sound.

['s mel gibson]

There is a tone that I like to call "Electric Spanish". I didn't come up with this name either. It was Gibson's idea for their ES series of semi acoustic electric guitars. Jorma Kaukonen of Jefferson Airplane gets that sort of tone in the intro to "White Rabbit". Yeah, it's just a clean sounding ES 335 with depth and a bit of a trebly edge. Probably the middle position and maybe the neck position. I don't know what kind of amp he was using. Other sources for this "Electric Spanish" or clean electric guitar with a bit of Spanish flavor are for me, all those spaggetti-westerns. I guess it's sort of pseudo-Spanish but never the less, it was what the movie producers intended.

 

I did see a Spanish rock band on tv once. Their songs were very Spanish influenced. I don't recall their name but the guitarist was doing that Spanish style of strumming and he was hot on his lead guitar work. He was playing an LP Standard with the body top completely covered in abalone shell. The other members were drums, bass, and a female singer/dancer with castanettes. As I recall, they were {censored}ing hot. I just couldn't understand the Spanish lyrics.

 

Maybe if you listen to a lot of Spanish and Flamenco guitar music, you might combine the idea with rock and roll and be the next big thing. Or has this been done before?

[Alchemist]

Originally posted by 's mel gibson Maybe if you listen to a lot of Spanish and Flamenco guitar music, you might combine the idea with rock and roll and be the next big thing. Or has this been done before?

 

SHHHHH dont give him that idea.... ITS HORRIBLE!!!

 

actualy thats what I'm working on now:p

[mr footinmouth]

Even when the neck on a spanish guitar is thicker than everything you probably have played, it is just as esy to play as your average electric as long as you don't try to bend strings.

[Europa760]

 

Originally posted by mixedxboy yep nylon strings. as far as i know you can't just string up your regular acoustic with any old nylon strings without snapping them, but there are probably some nylons designed to work on a standard acoustic in general, they are spanish or classical guitars like these http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/g=home/navigation?N=100001+306255&Ntk=All&Ntt=spanish+guitar&Nty=1&page=1 shop around your local music stores. they aren't super popular these days so they can sometimes be hard to find, but since they're not flying off the shelves you can probably find a real sweet deal if you look hard enough. i've been to music store closing sales where they were blowing them out for like $20 because nobody wanted them. sure they weren't top quality--but if you just wanted to pluck around to see if you like classical guitar, how could you go wrong?

 

 

that wont snap them.

 

maybe youre thinking of a similar yet very different idea.

 

putting metal strings on a classical guitar is gonna piss of the classical guitar big time. they have very very thin tops. much less tension in the nylons.

[TodayWasTHeDaY]

You have to have a hat like estaban or it won't work and you'll sound like a dork.

[guitarlady]

Originally posted by 's mel gibson Maybe if you listen to a lot of Spanish and Flamenco guitar music, you might combine the idea with rock and roll and be the next big thing. Or has this been done before?

 

Been done before. "Friday Night In San Francisco" by Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin, and Paco De Lucia from around 1980 comes to mind as just one example. Some of Steve Howe's work also shows some Spanish influence.

[guitarlady]

These types of nylon string guitars, a flamenco and a classical, if you play them in the right finger picking style, can definately give you that sound.

 

 

 

[Alchemist]

 

Originally posted by guitarlady These types of nylon string guitars, a flamenco and a classical, if you play them in the right finger picking style, can definately give you that sound.

 

 

beautiful guitars:thu: , I myself play them with fingerstyle, but I've found for certain sounds and applications you can get a very nice and articulate latin sound using a light pick (as to not damage the strings).